Much has already been written about Keeper by Andrea Gillies. This book was the winner of the Welcome Prize 2009 and has been read and reviewed by the likes of Jo Brand, John Bayley and The Lancet. As a text it doesn't look or feel like many other books about caring for people with dementia. The way the book is presented suggests a piece of work that could adorn any lounge coffee table, or be taken away as a holiday read. The design of the cover gives little clue as to the content, depth, and information this little book contains.

The book tells a story: a story of caring and supporting Nancy, Andrea Gillies' mother-in-law, in a large house in the north of Scotland. Nancy has Alzheimer's disease, and lives with her husband Morris alongside the Gillies family in probably one of the most beautiful, isolated parts of the United Kingdom. Much of the book reflects the bleakness and beauty of the location of the family house and I felt this description of the outside environment was a kind of metaphor for the internal social environment within the family home. There are times when there is laughter and beauty within the everyday events in caring for Nancy, and there are also bleak times of frustration and despair. Gillies does have a skill in describing in detail the day by day experience of supporting Nancy and Morris, coupled with an ability to capture an often deeply personal internal experience of the challenge of caring.

This is a book laced with humour and this is done with great care. I particularly enjoyed reading the sometimes comedic relationship between Nancy and Morris as they both struggle to understand their respective worlds, as Nancy becomes less sure of what is happening and Morris struggles to relate to her. Those with dementia and those caring for a loved one will know this experience well. What Gillies does well is to describe the complicated interactions that people can have in this situation and how even with the best intentions, things can go wrong.

The other thing central to this book is the searching for information: about Alzheimer's disease, cognition, and how to support people with dementia. Gillies injects bits of knowledge about what she has managed to learn throughout the book. This is a strength insofar as it enables some transfer of information to readers who want to learn about dementia, but for me at times this got in the way of the story and the characters that I was quickly hooked on. The way that Gillies describes the moment by moment lived experience within the family is such a powerful learning experience in its own right.

For me, one of the most important parts of the book was the way Gillies questions herself. There are very honest questions that she asks herself about her role in caring for Nancy. I felt that at times Gillies was describing the conflict between the duty of being a carer versus her aspirations and desires for her own life. This is a common experience for those who care for people in need, but I admired the way Gillies articulated it.

I do not want to give away too much of the story in this review, but towards the end of the book I found myself so absorbed by the increasing challenges that the family face. I think that Gillies herself may agree that some of the lightness of her writing becomes shaded by the increasing pressures of coping in the final few chapters. For me, this is where the book changes and deep feelings about caring for other human beings come to the fore. I found this the most profound part of the book. It is the questioning of what it is to be human, living with or caring for someone with dementia that makes these pages so special. This book is accessible, the humour is sensitive, and the darker experiences expressed in such an open way. I would recommend it to professionals and carers alike, but I believe this book has wider appeal. It should and could be read by a wider audience and I can imagine book clubs across the United Kingdom taking on this as their next read. Such is the appeal of the human story, the excellence of how it is written and the profoundness of the subject. Gillies is to be commended for this book.